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by Tomás 
"Creativity is an interesting phenomena. You can't observe it under a microscope or through any other measuring instrument. One can only see the results of creativity, or the process of creativity, but not the substance itself. Or is it a substance? Like mercury, it is hard to grasp in our hands. Yet who doesn't value it? Or want more of it? Or enjoy it in some fashion, be it our own, or the work of another that attracts our attention, admiration and inspiration. Where does it come from? Why do some folks seem to have it in buckets full and others of us seem to have a bucket half filled, or down near the bottom? And what about this intuition stuff? What is it? Where does it come from? Is it inborn? Does it grow? Can it be developed? And what about that old measuring cup--why do some folks seem to have it as a life long partner and others can't seem to even find the neighborhood where it lives? Is there a connection between intuition and creativity? Do intuitive people have more creativity than those who do not appear to be intuitive? Many questions, answers to come-- from you, if at all, for I am still pursuing questions. Years ago while a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the sixties, pursuing questions of course, I remember writing a poem for a class in psychology. In the poem I wrote that all people are artists and the canvas we create upon is our lives. The colors, figures and images are the choices we make and the actions we take, with their attendant results and outcomes producing "our art". In this sense, we can not help but create, for in being alive we have to make choices, be they conscious or not. What to wear, what to eat, what to say, where to live, where to go, how, why......Questions again, they come with every breath. Unavoidable. Some of us are born gifted with particular sensitivities, abilities, skills, a predilection you might say, for expression in one of the familiar forms of art we call music, painting, dance, theater, voice. Others of us don't necessarily have a gift, just an interest and a desire to learn how to express ourselves in a particular media. Thus I enjoy singing, drawing, playing the guitar, harmonica, sculpting, though I do not believe I am particularly gifted in any of these expressions. Doesn't matter to me, I enjoy doing them, for me. They aren't intended to be judged as performances, only expressions of feelings, images, and ideas flowing through my mind, body and spirit. The urge for this kind of expression comes from deep inside our humanity, and when it is not thwarted, even encouraged, who knows what the possibilities are. It is also important to remember creativity is not just about expressing through the arts, but in and through all our relationships and interactions. And what helps us to do this?? I suggest that we all have an innate, gyroscopic-like function at the center of our beings. It communicates always, but we, or, I should say, "I", don't always have the requisite attunement to hear what it is communicating. It speaks from a place of deep wisdom and integrity. It has survival based instincts developed over billions of years, and it also has connection with our Higher Selves. This inner gyroscope provides guidance integral to maintaining, or restoring, balance and harmony within self, and between self and our environment--on all levels of being. I call this inner wisdom-- intuition. It is within us all, but of course varying in degree, sharpness and strength, just as other qualities vary amongst individuals--one has a gift for public speaking, one has a gift for introspection, another for organization, another for writing poetry. But bottom line, we all have it and its sharpness can be developed and brought into our daily lives in a more frequent and skillful manner through respectful honoring its presence and acting on its guidance. There is another aspect of creativity and intuition that is particularly up for me right now as labor to write this, with my left arm is in great pain from a bad fall on ice while snowboarding on the last day of the year. No broken bones, thankfully, but nevertheless the tendon, nerve, muscle and ligaments impacted by the fall and 20 seconds of excruciating shoulder pain due to a partial dislocation of bone smashed out of its socket, then miraculously going back in to place as I rolled in agony in the snow. I went for an MRI sonic imaging view of the damage and it showed inflamed nerves around a bulging disk in my neck. Doc prescribed steroids to reduce the inflammation and tylenol and codeine to help provide pain relief. Then next week I see the neck specialist to see how I am doing. Thankfully the pain relief is working and I am able to get some sleep at night. Mostly I am supposed to wear a neck collar and rest as much as I can to allow the body to do its amazing healing work over the time it needs to do the job. So I am left with a challenge to my creativity and intuition. What is this injury all about and how can I create a response to it that will grow me in the directions that I want to go?
Working within a shamanic framework I take the fall as a way the Mystery seeks to get my attention about new information for my life. Like the phone ringing, I need to pick it up and listen to what is coming through this new "opening" , or in Huichol, nierica. The fall was not my conscious plan, it was not part of my "first attention". It came from the Nagual, the Mystery, the world of "second attention" with the news that my dreaming, the way I am living my life, is too small, and that I have to open to a new and bigger and better dream. So I must use the tool of my intuition to help me access the information that is for my greatest good, then use this information to create the necessary changes to move me forward in a positive way. Thus the purpose of the "injury" is fulfilled. The information is received, acted upon, and through this honoring of the process, new growth evolves, flowers blossom from the muck of pain and suffering. I am still in the middle of my listening and investigations but some of what my intuition is telling me this is all about has to do with the process of regeneration. The healing comes from the magical miracle of returning to the open and loving heart as the source of it all. The wisdom of the heart, opening to love--to receive it for myself and to be a channel for it to others. Finding the ways that I can close my heart in reactivity related to self - importance. Finding the ways I give my happiness and peace away due to things not going the way my ego wants them to go, on my schedule, my timing, my desired forms and outcomes. Finding my places of attachment based on fear, the ways I respond to situations that cause "inflammation" of my emotions and energy which affect my body, spirit and those around me. Finding all this, facing and owning it, with compassion and love, not judgement, then deconstructing the patterns and what they are based on--such as the belief that the world is hostile and out to get me and thus I have to be always prepared to defend myself against attack, I.e., leading to a state of contraction, rigidity and tightness. Pretty hard for love energy to run through that system! Creativity is required to build new programs, ones based on love instead of fear. Programs based on surrendering to Great Spirit's loving presence working for the greatest good, albeit in mysterious ways, in everyone, everything, everywhere and all the time. Programs that are open to the living presence of Mystery, alive always and seeking to unfurl itself for those who are open to it. Quite a contrast to the program of trying to control outcomes thinking that I know what is for my greatest good. I can know what I desire, but what is truly for my greatest good, that I do not know. But Great Spirit knows, and along with Divine Timing and Divine Order, always delivers the goods. So my intuition is telling me to open more to Mystery unfolding, with faith and trust, surrendering more to the flow of the Tao, The Way, and to be present, receptive and attentive to the wave of now, so I can get the information it provides about how to catch and ride it in a way that I can enjoy the experience and use the power of the Great Ocean to help me go forward in my life with more love, joy, peace and fulfillment. The essence of the information coming through the nierica of my snowboard injury is a new relationship to power. Instead of power through physical effort, power through blending, through joining, with fluidity and flexibility, with the truth of what is in a manner that flows, like the river, like the clouds passing in the sky, like the wind whose song we hear but do not see. The dance of creativity, creating responses to the challenges of life that blossom flowers through honoring the wisdom voice of intuition. I'm working on it. Its working on me. I
am thankful for the opportunity to co-create with the Mystery
the biggest opening possible to bring through more and more love,
healing, wisdom, and joy. May your intuition and creativity help
you with your gardening work as well. |